Dole Urges Stand on Handicapped
By Our Political Writer

KANSAS CITY - Two Kansas delegates, with an assist from Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., made a pitch to the Republican Platform Committee Tuesday for recognition of the needs of the handicapped.

Testifying before the human resources subcommittee were Mrs. Arvis Meseke, Junction City, and William Frederick, Chanute. 

Frederick, a paraplegic, said the Republican party, from a practical standpoint, should be aware there are an estimated 75 million people in the country who either are handicapped or who have relatives and friends who are handicapped.

It would be logical to assume, he added, that 50 percent of them are of voting age. Exlusion of the handicapped, Frederick stated, is rapidly becoming a national issue.

Frederick said the nation's handicapped suffer second class citizenship because of misunderstanding, stereotyped labeling, discriminatory practices and environmental barriers.

Dole sat beside Frederick at the hearing and told the committee that Frederick was one of five persons instrumental in the senator's re-election in 1974. Although handicapped, Frederick made about 5,000 telephone calls "and he did that lying flat on his back."

Mrs. Meseke, vice chairman of Gov. Robert Bennett's task force on the handicapped, noted there are about 10 million of 30 million handicapped persons employed in the United States. She and Frederick maintain that most of them, if not all, could be employed.

She said not one presidential candidate has mentioned the handicapped in the election campaigns this year.

"As a delegate from Kansas, I urge you to include something for these people in our Republican platform. THey do not ask for anything more than our awareness that they are out there."